1976-02-10
Culvert Yields Body of Girl
by Larry Stalcup
PANHANDLE —The body of 12- year-old Rhonda DeAnn Keys of Amarillo--whe has been missing since the morning of Feb. 3—was found Monday, stuffed inside a concrete culvert on a dirt farm road northeast of here.
The girl's body was discovered about 5:30 p.m. by a 15-year-old youth. It was inside the culvert located 2 miles east and 1 mile north of Panhandle, adjacent to the farm where the youth lives, said Carson County Sheriff John Nunn.
Positive identification of the girl was made about 10:45 p.m. Monday by the girl's father, Dennis Dean Keys of 1210 Moberly.
Sheriff Nunn said an autopsy will be performed in Amarillo today to determine the exact cause of death. "But she appears to have been murdered."
The girl had several wounds en her head, which may have been the cause of death. "Visual signs gave no indications of a sexual offense," said Nunn. "But we cannot be sure until the autopsy is complete."
When found, the giri was clad in a light colored T-shirt and was wearing blue, hip-hugger jeans, said Sheriff John Nunn.
The sheriff told the Globe-News %. it may be possible that the girl was actually killed in Potter County and the body brought to Carson County to be dumped.
Rhonda DeAnn was last seen on the morning of Feb. 3, 1976.
Juvenile officers and law enforcement officers from throughout the Panhandle have been searching for
the girl since that time.
